Key Study 1: Fisher et al. (2005)
Aim: To investigate the brain systems involved in early-stage intense romantic love.
Participants: 10 females and 7 males from New York State University (self-selecting sample), aged from 18-26 years old (mean age 20). All participants reported being ‘in love’ (a range of 1-17 months; mean = 7 months).
Procedure: Participants were placed in an fMRI scanner and shown a photograph of their loved one followed by a distraction task and then a ‘neutral’ photograph of an acquaintance with whom they had a non-emotional relationship.
Results: The researchers found that when the participants viewed the photograph of their loved one specific areas of the brain were active: the right ventral tegmental areas and the right caudate nucleus. Both of these areas are strongly associated with dopamine activation (a neurotransmitter which induces a feeling of reward and motivation in people).
Conclusion: The results suggest that people in the early, intense stages of romantic love access the areas of the brain most associated with motivation and reward, giving rise to the idea that people become ‘addicted to love’. Dopaminergic reward pathways may contribute to the ‘general arousal’ component of romantic love, making it a biological process rather than a cognitive one.
Evaluation of Fisher et al. (2005)
Strengths
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- The use of a standardised procedure means that the study is replicable, which increases its reliability
- The use of fMRI means that the study was able to support to the idea that human beings may have evolved a brain system which ensures that they become addicted to love which increases the study’s validity.
Limitations
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- The small sample size of 17 participants means that the results are not very meaningful and may not be robust in terms of statistical analysis.
- The idea that romantic love can be measured via fMRI is overly reductionist: there may be a range of other factors involved, such as compatible personalities, shared ideals, cultural influences.